What on earth do Yellowstone National Park and Pompeii have in common? One is out West in America at 8000 feet above sea level surrounded by the Rocky Mountains and the other is in Italy along the coast on the Bay of Naples at sea level. One is there nowadays. One used to be there 2000 years ago in ancient Roman times. One is sparsely populated except by summer crowds of tourists. It is in a rural area far away from civilization. The other used to be an urban center of some size.

Both are dominated by volcanoes. That is the big similarity. Vesuvius was an active volcano in ancient times and is still an active volcano nowadays. It erupted during World War 2. There have been tremors and earthquakes since then. Yellowstone is dominated by all sorts of minor earthquakes that can barely be felt by the tourists. However, even more so than Vesuvius it is a supervolcano of enormous proportions and almost unimaginable destructive potential.

In the upcoming Edward Ware Thrillers at War novel Old Faithful Plot these similarities between Yellowstone and Pompeii have captured Adolf Hitler’s attention. He is chasing his enemy operative Colonel Sir Edward Ware and his fiancee Dora Benley all the way to the Rocky Mountains to capture the elusive Lawrence maps, key to winning the next war. He threatens the couple that if they don’t hand over the maps they are hiding from him he will attempt to blow up one of the geysers and Yellowstone itself to start a giant volcanic eruption that will remove America from the map and make sure she can’t interfere in any war.

But in a dark nightmare sequence Dora sees the ash flying about as it did in Pompeii two thousands years ago. She relives that horrible eruption and wonders what mankind is destined to suffer at the hands of the tyrannical Fuhrer.